Report: Trail Blazers have lowered their asking price for former Lakers target

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Back in the 2024 NBA offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers were linked to Portland Trail Blazers star forward Jerami Grant in trade rumors.

In June, Anthony Irwin reported on X that the Lakers and Trail Blazers were in talks on a deal that would’ve shipped Grant to Los Angeles. Plus, Zach Lowe implied in July that it might be time for folks to start printing Grant Lakers jerseys.

Fast forward several months from the rumors regarding Grant and Los Angeles, and Evan Sidery indicated on Sunday that the Trail Blazers have lowered their asking price for the 30-year-old from two first-round picks to one first-round pick and a “promising prospect.”

Perhaps a dip in Grant’s quality of play compared to a season ago played a role in Portland’s alleged decision to lower the asking price for him. Last season, he averaged 20-plus points per game and shot 40-plus percent from 3-point range, but he’s not checking either of those boxes so far in the 2024-25 regular season.

Across 23 games played with the Trail Blazers thus far, he’s averaging 16.0 points per game and shooting 38.5 percent from deep. Plus, before he erupted for 32 points against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 13, he was in a bit of a scoring slump.

During a four-game stretch in early December, he scored under 20 points in every game and shot 50-plus percent from the field just once. Ironically, also during that span, he had a miserable three-point performance on 1-of-12 shooting from the floor in a loss to the Lakers on Dec. 8.

While Grant hasn’t necessarily played at the top of his game in his third season in Portland, it still could be worth the Lakers’ while to acquire him before the trade deadline. He is a talented and proven offensive player who could theoretically help to take some scoring pressure off the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

The Lakers and Grant’s Trail Blazers will face off one more time prior to the trade deadline on Jan. 2 in what will be a home game for Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena.